​Legacy Learning Framework

The Legacy Learning Framework is a tool that provides structure and guidance for educators during the planning and learning process to ensure learner outcomes are attained in alignment with the District Strategic Design.​ A high performance culture fuels student achievement in Katy ISD. The Framework aligns teacher practices to high yield best practices and invites the learner to have an active role in learning.

Composed of community, students, and staff, the collaborative work of the Strategic Design Team created the Framework to focus and align structures for teaching and learning. Our Beliefs, Call to Action, Learner Profile and Learner Outcomes guided the process to create components of a Framework that ensures our learners will have the type of experiences necessary to achieve the Learner Outcomes.

Katy ISD Strategic Design

Our Mission

Katy Independent School District, the leader in educational excellence, together with family and community, provides unparalleled learning experiences designed to prepare and inspire each student to live an honorable, fulfilling life…to create the future.

Our Vision

Be the legacy.

Ourbeliefs

We believe that all learners are unique and thrive through personalized learning experiences.

We believe that when ideas and individuals are respected, a culture of mutual respect is built that benefits all stakeholders.

We believe that collaboration which honors all voices, creates ownership that drives personal accountability.

We believe that being open‐minded fosters continual improvement.

We believe that meaningful relationships are vital to learner success.

We believe that effective assessment is a continual process of giving and receiving meaningful feedback that advances learning and supports a system of accountability.

We believe that our success is not determined by a single, standardized assessment.

Strategic Design & Legacy Learning Framework

The Legacy Learning Framework is a tool that provides structure and guidance for educators during the planning and learning process to ensure learner outcomes are attained in alignment with the District Strategic Design

One who continually grows by acquiring and transferring new knowledge and skills

Learner Engagement

The level of investment in the learning

Learning Goals

The intended outcomes of the learning process

Mastery

Attaining a depth of understanding that allows for application of learning

Personalize

Inspiring ownership of meaningful and purposeful learning with consideration of interests, strengths and needs

Analyze

Definition:Critically investigating information

Guiding Questions:
What tools are needed to effectively analyze information? How is information used to infer relationships, determine patterns, and/or draw conclusions? What tasks and/or experiences are necessary to achieve the learning goals?

Learner Description ​

Educator Description ​

The
learner critically evaluates and examines information to determine next steps. ​

understand the value of critically investigating information;ask questions to guide and clarify learning;

investigate ideas and curiosities that are relevant to learning goals;

select a variety of resources;

identify patterns and make connections; and

justify conclusions based on evidence. ​

The educator will:

create an environment of inquiry, critical thinking, and problem solving;

provide opportunities and open-ended questions to make connections; and

guide the resource selection process to encourage the use of a variety of tools to synthesize information. ​

Instructional Cornerstones Connections ​ ​ ​

Critical Thinking

Information Literacy​

Problem Solving

Personalize

Definition:Inspiring ownership of meaningful and purposeful learning with consideration of interests, strengths, and needs

Guiding Questions:Who are the learners? What is their prior knowledge? What are their experiences? What are their strengths and needs? What are their interests? What supports are needed? How do learners find meaning and purpose?

Learner Description ​ ​

Educator Description ​

The
learner reflects and takes ownership of learning to develop and achieve goals. ​ ​

The
educator designs opportunities for learners to develop their own learning experiences. ​

facilitate self-management and organization for learners to achieve their learning goals; and

select and provide resources aligned to the learner's strengths, needs, and interests. ​

Instructional Cornerstones Connections ​ ​ ​ ​

● Collaboration

● Creative Thinking

● Critical Thinking​

● Social Contribution

Design

Definition:Creating a purposeful, aligned plan and process for learning

Guiding Questions: What strategies, structures, resources, and assessments best support learning goals? What opportunities are created to allow for progress along the Katy ISD Instructional Cornerstone Continuum?

Learner Description ​

Educator Description ​ ​

The learner uses a variety of resources, methods, and assessments to achieve the learning goals. ​

The educator considers the desired learner outcome and uses a variety of strategies, structures, resources, and assessments to design learning experiences. ​ ​

Learner Expectations ​

Educator Expectations ​ ​

The learner will:

purposefully choose from a variety of resources and methods throughout the learning process;

engage in collaborative, consistent, and effective communication throughout the learning process; and

construct appropriate evidence of learning. ​

The educator will:

create authentic challenges that meet the anticipated and diverse needs of all learners;

purposefully select strategies, structures, resources and assessments that support the learner in achieving the learning goals; and

How will the learner transfer learning in authentic, real-world situations?

Learner Description ​

Educator Description ​

The
learner responds to authentic, real-world situations by synthesizing information, skills, and processes with persistence and innovation. ​

The
educator provides opportunities and support for learners to articulate learning and demonstrate knowledge and skills through authentic, real-world experiences. ​

Learner Expectations ​

Educator Expectations ​

The learner will:

select and utilize the appropriate resources to achieve learning goals;

actively engage in varied learning opportunities;

continuously reflect on learning goals and progress;

develop products of learning that demonstrate an understanding of information, skills and processes; and

exercise flexibility and willingness to accomplish a goal. ​

The educator will:

provide learners with a selection of appropriate and diverse resources;

facilitate varied learning opportunities;

use probing questions to pique curiosity and inspire learning;

adjust instruction and activities in response to learner interests and needs;

monitor learner engagement and involvement, participation, or performance in the application of learning; and

provide guidance and feedback. ​

Instructional Cornerstone Connections ​ ​ ​

Creative Thinking

Critical Thinking

Information Literacy

Problem Solving

Social Contribution

​

Evaluate

Definition:Assessing, measuring, and refining learning through feedback and reflection

Guiding Questions:

What variety of assessments could be used to measure learning? How will learners and educators know learning goals have been reached? How will evaluation criteria be communicated to the learner? How will learning experiences be refined based on data? When will collaboration occur regarding progress toward the learning goals?

recognize that the evaluation process is collaborative, cyclical, and ongoing; and

reflect on the effectiveness of resources used to achieve learning goals.

​

The educator will:

establish a learning environment where growth is fostered;

develop evaluation criteria;

clarify evaluation expectations;

use various types of assessments appropriate for the learning goals;

monitor progress and provide feedback throughout the learning process;

assess the learner's level of mastery;

recognize that the evaluation process is collaborative, cyclical, and ongoing; and

analyze the effectiveness of resources used in the learning process and make necessary adjustments.

​

Instructional Cornerstones Connections ​ ​ ​

Collaboration

Communication

Critical Thinking

Problem Solving

Katy ISD Instructional Cornerstone Continuum

Instructional Cornerstones

As a cornerstone anchors a building, the KISD Instructional Cornerstone skills have been identified and developed with the purpose of designing and anchoring curriculum and instruction around meaningful experiences for students. All students should have multiple opportunities to experience each level of the Instructional Cornerstone skills throughout their educational experience. The Instructional Cornerstones were created for students to use with the guidance from teachers who help determine the appropriate cornerstone and the appropriate level for the student learning experience.

KISD INSTRUCTIONAL CORNERSTONE CONTINUUM

CORNERSTONE

Novice

Emerging

Proficient

Exemplary

Collaboration:Work respectfully with others by sharing responsibilities, exchanging and evaluating knowledge and ideas, and building consensus in order to achieve a common goal.

Work respectfully with others within a given set of group norms to complete a task.

Work respectfully with others to accomplish a task by actively listening, responding appropriately to alternate viewpoints, sharing responsibilities, and exchanging information.

Work respectfully with others to achieve a common goal through local and remote networking by sharing responsibilities and exchanging and evaluating knowledge and ideas.

Work respectfully with others to establish and honor group norms, achieve a common goal (define roles, assign responsibilities and build consensus), and consult with peers, experts, and others through local and remote networking.

Communication:Convey information and ideas to effectively engage the audience using a medium appropriate to the topic and purpose.

Share information and ideas in a given medium so that the main points are relevant to the purpose and audience.

Convey information and ideas clearly by selecting from a variety of media to effectively engage an audience.

Convey information and ideas clearly by strategically selecting an appropriate medium that engages the target audience for a desired result and assess the effectiveness of the communication.

Choose the appropriate medium and skillfully use it to impart information and ideas to engage the audience, elicit a desired response, assess the effectiveness, and (if possible) adjust in real time.

Creative Thinking:Generate a range of ideas through a meaningful process (structured or unstructured) that inspires the development of original or innovative products, performances, or solutions.

Use a given process to explore and connect ideas, events, techniques or data to create or modify products, ideas, performances or solutions.

Use a given process to connect and extend ideas, events, techniques or data to create or modify products, ideas, performances or solutions that are relevant and engaging.

Identify and use a process to generate questions and elaborate upon ideas to develop, modify or create innovative products, ideas, performances or solutions that address an existing need/problem or evoke an aesthetic response.

Develop an innovative and inspirational product, performance, or solution that addresses an existing need/problem or anticipates a need/problem and evokes a powerful aesthetic response.

Critical Thinking:Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, ideas, or objects to make inferences and predictions, and draw conclusions.

Identify information, ideas or objects to make predictions or inferences based on background knowledge, observation, or personal experiences.

Analyze information, ideas or objects to make inferences and predictions, and draw conclusions.

Analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, ideas or objects to make inferences and predictions in order to develop and defend a position/point of view using credible evidence.

Analyze, evaluate and synthesize information, ideas, and/or objects to examine alternate perspectives, refine points of view, and defend a position using credible evidence.

Information Literacy:Utilize an inquiry process to locate and evaluate a variety of information sources based on accuracy, authority, and point of view in order to accomplish a task.

Given a set of sources and a guiding question, select relevant information to answer the question.

Formulate questions (with appropriate scaffolding) and navigate within an expanded set of sources to identify, analyze, and organize relevant information to accomplish the task.

Formulate questions based on a self- generated hypothesis/thesis; access and evaluate self-selected sources for relevance, authority, and accuracy; identify conflicting information; and synthesize to accomplish the task.

Formulate questions based on a self-generated hypothesis/thesis; access and evaluate self-selected sources for relevance, authority, and accuracy; clarify reasons for conflicting information and conduct additional research to resolve theconflict.

Problem Solving:Identify, define, and/or explore a problem or situation, work through a process to determine and evaluate solutions.

Given a problem or situation, apply a given procedure to arrive at a solution(s) and evaluate its reasonableness.

Given a problem or situation and set of parameters, select and apply an appropriate procedure to arrive at a solution, evaluate its reasonableness, and identify next steps, if necessary.

Identify and define a complex problem or situation, its underlying assumptions and relevant information; apply a procedure; arrive at a solution or conclusion; evaluate its effectiveness; and identify next steps, if necessary.

Identify and define a meaningful complex problem or situation, its underlying assumptions and relevant information; apply a procedure; arrive at a solution or conclusion; evaluate its effectiveness; identify next steps; consider possible ramifications; and based on that process, refine andrepeat.

Social Contribution:Contribute to the betterment of one's community through service.

Based on a given need, take actions for an individual, family, group, or organization.

Identify a need, make decisions, and take actions for an individual, family, group, or organization; self-reflect on the contribution.

Identify a need, make decisions, and take actions to benefit one's community; continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of decisions/actions; adjust actions based on the evaluations.

Demonstrate ongoing commitment to social concerns by initiating and sustaining solutions; continuously monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of decisions/actions;adjust actions based on the evaluations.

Katy ISD Curriculum & Unit Plans

In support of our call to action, the Katy ISD written curriculum, in the form of unit plans, includes the components needed to plan learning experiences for students. It is expected that professional learning communities use the Unit Plans alongside the Legacy Learning Framework to guide conversations about the most effective instruction for student achievement and success.

Course Title:

Unit Title:

​

​

Length of Unit

Unit Summary:✔ Clear description (both title and summary) framed in what the students will accomplish as a result of their time on this major topic, process, theme, or performance. ​ ​ ​

Understanding✔ Framed as an understanding of the lasing and universal importance of a given topic, theme, process or text✔ Insight that derives from inquiry that requires discovery or processing✔ Understanding can be observed in "real time" and/or measured in performance/product using established criteria✔ Transferrable to a variety of contexts, topics and/or disciplines ​

Essential Questions✔ Frames and provokes thinking and dialogue written in student targeted language✔ Promotes inquiry and exploration rather than straight-forward answers✔ Links the classroom to the outside world✔ Draws on prior knowledge to challenge and/or develop thinking and create new knowledge ​

It is the policy of Katy ISD not to discriminate on the basis of sex, disability, race, religion, color, gender, age, or national originin its educational programs and/or activities, including career and technology programs, nor in its employment practicesand to provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups.

Katy ISD is not responsible for the content on external websites or servers.